Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Above Gamma, the first battle of the war had started catching Spatia off guard. Their own henchman had decided to attack them from behind. There was another party, who had not expected this sudden turn of events, but they quickly set out to spread the news…

“Seth!”

The unlocked door of the workshop slammed against the wall, as Fin and Mina kicked it open. Despite the grave situation they were in, they were laughing with excited smiles. They found the blacksmith over an assortment of chains and hooks, meticulously engraving his handiwork.

“What is going on, you two?” he asked with a warm smile. Seeing them this excited in this kind of situation made him happy, too. Once all this was over, he would take the two to a peaceful vacation, he thought wistfully. Just the three of them fooling around.

“Good news!” Fin exclaimed, flying a few loops in the air.

“We asked Leana to let us deliver the news,” Mina added, smiling brightly at his questioning gaze.

“Spatia god kicked in the back!” Fin broke out, revealing what happened with concise words.

“Idyllin Mo sent an update from Gamma. Spatia’s troops are currently locked in battle with the undead that pushed back Arget Nore,” Mina elaborated, Fin’s short report. The master of space magic had stayed close to Gamma after seeing the first signs of spatial activity. She explained the space magician’s report in more detail, sharing with Seth what was happening in Gamma.

“But weren’t they allies?” Seth asked a little confused. They had long since come to the conclusion that the army of undead that defeated the undead empire was manipulated by Spatia. Why would their own collaborator attack them?

“T-That wasn’t part of the report… But it’s a fact that they are being held back and keep losing numbers,” the fairy focused on the positive aspect of this situation. Who cared about the why, if the outcome was good for them? Right, why overthink things?

It was kind of fun, to think that Spatia already got their first setback before they were even able to leave Gamma. According to the report, they did not try to subjugate the Undead of Gamma, leaving the district as quickly as they could instead, to aim for Delta.

This meant that the betrayal had not bought them a lot of time, but it also meant that Spatia couldn’t expect any support troops from Gamma. Imagining how foul their mood had to be right about now, he joined the two in excitement as he thought of what else they were going to face on their journey ahead.

---Outside of Gamma---

They had left the boundaries of the district far behind them before they landed to take a rest. What a heinous betrayal, after all the resources they had invested in that man. Her Fingernails dug into her palm, as she clenched her fist at the sight of her army.

The attack came unexpectedly and hit unexpectedly hard. She had lost the weaker third of her flying undead, and about 1800 of the soldiers entrusted to her had fallen to their doom. Even if they were sturdy enough to survive the fall from such height, the ground was swarming with jackal soldiers that hacked them apart.

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It wasn’t that she cared for the lives they lost, but such losses so early on put her in a bad light. She might even have to explain herself in front of the emperor. Such a huge loss, without even entering a proper battle was hard to explain.

The battle had cost them not just men and mounts, but also supplies who had fallen with the people and energy. The Army had landed at a safe distance from the land of the dead to reorganize, redistribute, and recover from the ambush.

She was thinking of how to explain the losses when one of her captains approached her. It was one of the undead heroes she had collected during the evaluation. They had grown brilliantly, thanks to their high potential and class.

“The men have found signs of a fresh dungeon worm nest nearby,” he informed her of their discovery. A nest of dungeon worms! What a welcome surprise. Adult dungeon worms had a chance to grow legendary materials for alchemy in their stomachs.

“Where is that Nest?” she asked eagerly. To the people here, this may have been a disaster, but it was a chance for her.

“You can see the peak over there, it is not far,” the adjutant said with a bow and pointed to a mountain in the distance. It was a peak noticeably towering above the hills surrounding it. Even from this distance, she thought to see little holes dotting the surface.

It was really a dungeon worm nest. However, it was a good distance north of their planned route. Going there meant veering off the direct course to Delta and would cost them time, but the potential gain was worth it to her.

“Get 50 scout teams ready. We are going to raid the nest,” she said without hesitation. Going in was a no-brainer. Dungeon Worm materials were much thought after, especially among the higher ranks of nobility.

Even non-legendary ones could be used on their soldiers or offspring to make up for a lack of attributes or training. Offering them to the imperial family would further secure their standing and make up for her mistakes.

Taking 50 scout teams meant she would go will almost all their scouts, leaving the army to protect the campsite. She took so many because dungeon worm nests were often very complicated. Even if a fresh nest wouldn’t have as many tunnels, the mapping would go quicker with more people.

The chosen of Kali intentionally left the soldiers behind. She couldn’t risk losing more of them, especially not on this unauthorized detour. She intended to make up their offensive power with undead instead.

In the past, she would have used hordes of low-level undead to simply flood a place like this, however, the battle during the evaluation had taught her that numbers were not everything. Stronger undead took more to control them, which was why she didn’t have the numbers for that strategy anymore. She had to use the scouts and protect them with her undead.

After they reached the mountains, Natina opened the gate to her undead dimension. Stepping out were 200 humanoid undead, most of them the promising talents of various worlds, all of them in the late lv. 90s.

Apart from their pale skin and lacking emotion, they were hard to distinguish from the scouts. Yet, the soldiers of Spatia had a cold shiver run down their spine. Sometimes, they could see the soul flame glint in their eyes, radiating the cold of death.

It was hard to say whether they were supposed to protect them or make sure they didn’t run away…

…

The perfectly circular tunnels were dark and damp. The magic light hovering above their heads didn’t help him calm down, as the reason for his growing anxiety was the gazes of the undead behind him.

On a conscious level, he knew that they were here to protect them and wouldn’t harm them, however, on an instinctive level he just wanted to stay away from them. Soldier or not, the breath of death was a heavy burden on anyone’s mind. To distract himself, he concentrated on his map and the path before them.

“Weird, this an uncommon copper ore,” a member of the scout teams mumbled, as they touched the wall on the right. The vein of copper glittered in the magic light. This was weird indeed. Dungeon Worms created long and winding tunnels in the process of devouring the natural ore veins in mountains. Usually, they would only go for minerals of high purity and ignore others.

It was only when several individuals stayed in a single mountain for mating, that they created this kind of complicated nest structure. To not starve, they had to manage with what was close to the breeding ground.

The weird part was, that it was still here. Uncommon ore could be refined to rare materials, as such it would be one of the first things the dungeon worms would devour. But the nest was still fresh. It was hard to believe, but maybe the worms had eaten something better up to now?

However, looking at the map slowly filling in, he couldn’t help his suspicions grow. He found this nest weirdly systematic for something created by worms in a breeding frenzy. He had visited two or three worm nests before, or dungeons that grew in them.

“This nest is too well structured… Do you think someone made it?” he suggested a preposterous idea.

“Why would anyone do something like that? If they were able to tame a dungeon worm, they would have better things to do,” his teammate denied his idea.

He wanted to argue further when the magic light suddenly flickered. It was a magic ball of light, how in the world did it flicker? The words he wanted to say were stuck in his throw, as the light of the magic receded, barely leaving them in a dim twilight.

“Oh no…”

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